Arts & Culture
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An Invitation to All Bowen Islanders Advancing ARTS & CULTURE on Bowen Island 2017 - 2027 Cultural Master Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ................................................. 3 A. Introduction ......................................................... 13 B. Our Guiding Principles ....................................... 20 C. What is Bowen’s Culture? .................................. 21 D. Goals, Strategies and Actions............................ 27 E. Plan Evaluation & Review ................................... 58 F. BOWEN 2025: A Thriving Arts-and-Culture Driven Community ..................... 59 Appendix I Status Of 2004 Cultural Plan Recommendations Appendix II Successes And New Challenges Identified Appendix III BIAC Core Programs/Budget Appendix IV Arts & Cultural Survey Highlights Appendix V Groups Consulted in Developing This Plan Appendix VI Interview Questions Appendix VII 78 Communications & Publicity Appendix VIII List of Research Documents DRAFTAppendix IX List of Abbreviations Appendix X Links to 2004 Cultural Plan, Terms of Reference and Other Documents Appendix XI Master Plan Budget Page 2 Bowen Island Cultural Plan “Bowen is a place where people can become who they want to be.” – Andrea Verwey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Why does Bowen Island need a Cultural “Master” Plan? Culture and art happen, planned or not. The motivation for developing a vision and goals along with a strategy to achieve those goals flows from the growing recognition and acknowledgment that arts are integral to our human existence. Culture engages minds, enriches the education of children, and supports lifelong learning. Culture helps define the character or identity of a community in which people feel a sense of belonging. It engages citizens in activities that help build a sense of community, resilience, and civic engagement. Finally, as the community grows, culture celebrates diversity and helps newcomers feel welcome. Municipalities and cultural organizations have a role to play in building prosperous and diversified local economies and enhancing the quality of life in communities. A plan that reflects the needs of its citizens can inspire and focus activities and propel the community forward. As Gord Hume wrote, a cultural plan “should offer hope, ideas and opportunities.” We can use the Cultural Plan as a road-map to orient the community to what is possible, what is affordable, and what is doable with current resources. The Cultural Plan also highlights which actions we should prioritize to achieve our objectives. The major players in creating and implementing theDRAFT Cultural Plan include: 1. The Arts Council – charged with supporting and facilitating arts and culture on Bowen Island and implementing the Plan’s recommendations 2. The Municipality – charged with authorizing, endorsing and funding assistance; and 3. Artists and citizens of the community. Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 3 To develop this Cultural Plan, we invited Islanders to tell their stories, and then we listened and looked for patterns in the stories we heard. These stories created possibilities, opportunities, and challenges that we hadn’t yet thought of and which resulted in recommendations that are novel and innovative. We were encouraged by what Islanders told us and inspired by how they challenged us to broaden these recommendations to include and reflect how communities of practice, creative groups, and individuals self-organize to achieve their own objectives. The Plan explores how we can harness the resources of the Arts Council, the Municipality, and arts and cultural groups across the island to support such initiatives. This Plan updates the 2004 Cultural Master Plan that was adopted as a scheduled amendment to the Official Community Plan (OCP) of Bowen Island in 2005 as Municipal Bylaw 129-2004. The amendment was later removed from the OCP and established as a separate Bylaw 297-2011 with the entire Plan incorporated as Schedule A. At that time, Council reiterated the role of the Bowen Island Arts Council (BIAC) in the development, amendment, and oversight of implementation of the Plan by stating: “The Cultural Master Plan shall be a guide for Bowen Island’s arts and cultural development. Council recognizes the Bowen Island Arts Council as the leading advisory organization to Municipal Council for arts and culture development and delegates to the Bowen Island Arts Council responsibility to direct the implementation, in consultation with Bowen Island Municipal Council, of the Cultural Master Plan.” In the fall of 2014, upon being addressed by representatives of BIAC on the need for a decennial update of the Plan, the Bowen Island Municipal Council authorized the Bowen Island Arts Council to proceed with the review and update of the Cultural Master Plan. BIAC circulated a call for members to join the Cultural Plan Steering Committee. It reached out to a broad representation of the community, including individuals and organizations involved in arts, recreation, tourism, education, healing, health and wellness, heritage, historians, business, First Nations, youth, environmental, and the community at large. Christine Walker, Manager of Recreation & Community Services at the time represented staff of the Bowen Island Municipality. Councillor Gary Ander was appointed as liaison representing Municipal Council. Initially 14 members of the committee were recruited, with Dave Pollard, a Director of the Board of the Bowen Island Arts Council elected as Chair. Summary of Process DRAFT In order to complete its work, the Steering Committee created six subcommittees: • Research • Outreach • Sense-Making • Communications • Public Consultation • Writing/Editing Page 4 Bowen Island Cultural Plan Research: • The Research committee reviewed 24 relevant research documents including a dozen Cultural Plans from other communities, identifying useful data and interesting ideas. • The Research committee considered and reviewed work that was being undertaken by the Bowen Island Municipality, such as the community survey to help inform the recreational master plan, and the branding process. We remarked on how the branding process paralleled our work and how similar some of our results were. We acknowledge and thank Sheree Johnson and Ed Wachtman of Storytellings Inc., for allowing us to draw from their analysis of the resident survey findings. Outreach: • The Outreach committee conducted and archived over 50 interviews, mostly by video, and prepared synopses of highlights. • They prepared, promoted and conducted an online survey that gathered and analyzed responses from over 300 Bowen residents. Sense-making: • The Sense-making committee reviewed and analyzed the Research and Outreach data for patterns, insights, ideas, successes, challenges, opportunities and needs. As a result, 16 strategic goals were identified, each reflecting the common themes of interviewees and survey respondents. • Recommendations were developed for each strategic goal to build on identified successes, capitalize on identified opportunities, and address identified needs and challenges. • The draft includes 38 recommendations and involves potential partnerships with more than 30 groups and members of all sectors of Bowen. Communications: • The Communications Committee developed a website: BowenCulture.ca, created a short video to explain the process, wrote and published five press releases about the process and progress, set up a booth at Bowfest to explain the work underway, and prepared posters and handouts for distribution. • Throughout the process, committee members have engaged in conversations with the public about the work and invited anyoneDRAFT with interest to be interviewed and get involved. Public Consultation: • The Public Consultation Committee identified and contacted members of groups and other organizations, businesses, and individuals affected by the draft recommendations. Communication with each group ensued with the goal of obtaining feedback, identifying amendments and achieving agreement. • The draft Plan was posted to the project website BowenCulture.ca with an invitation for comments. Bowen Island Cultural Plan Page 5 • Information about the draft was disseminated island-wide via the Undercurrent, and on various websites and social media. • The draft was presented to various groups including the Snug Cove Business Association, the Economic Development Committee, the Bowen Island Heritage Commission, and the Bowen Island Literacy Task Group. It was featured at the 2016 AGM of BIAC. Report Writing • Based on the results of the above work, a draft Plan was written. Following public consultation, a number of changes were made and four recommendations were added. An updated draft was then prepared for presentation to Council. Next Steps Adoption and Community Celebration DRAFT • As directed by Municipal Council, BIAC has completed the process for the review and update of the Cultural Plan. It will present the draft to Council for approval and adoption as a Bylaw of BIM. • Upon adoption, BIAC will convene a community celebration and roll-out of the new Cultural Plan. Ongoing Review & Evaluation • Following adoption as a Bylaw of BIM, the Committee will convene a Cultural Plan Review committee to perform the following tasks: (a) measure and report on progress implementing the Plan, and propose any needed changes to the Plan’s recommendations as circumstances evolve, and (b) transform the BowenCulture.ca website from an archive to a tool that arts and other groups